Guest ledger

The account in your PMS that holds what in-house and expected guests currently owe. Charges post to it as the stay accrues, payments reduce it, and at checkout the balance either clears or moves to the city ledger for invoicing.

It is one of three balances a night audit reconciles, alongside the city ledger (amounts owed by companies and agents after departure) and the deposit or advance ledger (money taken before arrival).

Why it comes up

The guest ledger is where timing questions get decided. A charge that is earned but not yet paid should be visible as an outstanding balance, not surface only at arrival. Mews, for example, changed its Ledger Reporting in October 2026 so that an unpaid cancellation fee appears in the guest ledger as pending payment on the day the fee is earned, rather than waiting for a check-in that is no longer going to happen.

For an operator the ledger is the daily check that what the system thinks it is owed matches what the front desk believes. A guest ledger that drifts from the folios behind it usually means charges are posting to the wrong account, deposits are not being applied, or departures are closing without a balance transfer.